


Five Kisses

by neytah



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: College, F/M, Future Fic, established bea/ben, established pedro/balthazar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 09:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2575865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neytah/pseuds/neytah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five kisses of significance in the relationship of Hero and John.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Kisses

**1.**

When they first kiss, Hero is a bit tipsy (which is an understatement). It's at the graduation party, days after Claudio broke up with her because "We're going to different schools now, it's best if we just go our separate ways." And Hero was fine, she could handle it, at first.  She's not even a drinker much, really, until she saw Claudio grinding with that girl, and then the vodka seemed much more appealing. So she's secluded herself in her room, tears numbing the burn of the alcohol on her throat, and it's John who knocks on the door.

"Hero? Are you okay?" The sob that escapes her mouth is taken as an invitation to enter.

So he sits on the bed with her, lets her wet his shirt with tears as music booms elsewhere.

"You're a good friend, John." She says,  words slurred. She kisses him, sloppy and drunk, no time for John to react.

Then she leans away and pukes all over the floor.

 **2.**  

They talk a bit after that. Hero profusely apologizes, pledging to never go near alcohol again, and they move on from it, never tell any others of the gang about it. Even though the gang is barely a gang anymore, all off to different places, different uni's, different futures.

Though Hero and John end up going to the same small town art school (John for studio arts, Hero for fashion design), they don't actually talk to each other until the first dorm-wide floor meeting.

In which everyone who's living in dorms gathers for a fun night of fun and snacks and going over the rules. Hero's already got a group of friends, whom she meets there, and John, much less of a social butterfly, just follows his roommate around.

And they start talking. And it's just _so_ great to talk to someone about how weird it is not to be in the city, and missing their eccentric families, and it's just so _comfortable_. John's roommate comments that he's never seen John smile this much in the entire (albeit short) time he's know him.

The second time they kiss is at the dorm's Halloween party. She goes as a fairy, a costume she made herself. And John, well, John doesn't dress up, really. Costumes aren't really enforced, unlike the last costume party they went to.

They end up hanging out for the most of the party. While Hero's friends are off finding whichever artsy guy to be a muse for, it's nice to sit in the corner and talk about the pros and cons of novelty-sized pumpkins, or the commercialization of Halloween in the new millennium.

They're in middle of a said discussion when Hero's friends find her, both clearly drunk. (alcohol technically wasn't allowed at the party, but no one really listened to or enforced that rule.)

"Are you guys gonna kiss already?" Emma slurs. "You guys have been talking all nightttt"

"We need like-hmm-mistletoe-but for Halloween." Kennedy giggles at her own words.

So Hero gives him a peck on the cheek, hoping it will appease them.

"Noooooo. Like the real thing."

It's just a peck on the lips. A quick thing, a fraction of a second that John did not expect in a million years. But it's nothing, really, right?

Emma and Kennedy squeal.

**3.**

About halfway through the semester, John invites Hero to this art gallery. He's got a piece in it, no big deal he says, but Hero can't wait to see it.

She meets him outside, and then walk in together, John's arm around her waist. And they walk through the gallery together, commenting on the various pieces. Then her jaw drops.

It's beautiful. It's a charcoal drawing, in frame and all. It's her.

"Oh my gosh!" Hero exclaims.

"It's not weird, is it?"

"Oh no, John! It's lovely! It's beautiful!"

When she kisses him in the middle of the art gallery, it's a long time coming.

**4.**

They don't tell anyone, for a while. Everyone at school knows, of course, but the gang back home is a different story. Heck, she still hasn't told Beatrice. Because she knows if she tells Beatrice she'll tell Benedick and Benedick will tell everyone and she doesn't want that, not yet.

(Also, she does kinda want to see the look on Beatrice's face when they tell her.)

So it's during winter break, after final exams, the first big hurdle, when the gang returns to Auckland.

It's the annual Donaldson-Duke Christmas party. Balthazar's playing Christmas carols on his ukelele while Pedro looks on lovingly, Benedick and Beatrice are arguing over real vs fake Christmas trees. (Apparently, Beatrice insisted on getting a fake tree for their apartment, because it's much for practical for a pair of busy students, but in the presence of an actual real tree, Benedick is reiterating his argument that "there's just something about a real tree that lifts the spirits, ya know?")

So it's at Christmas Eve dinner, a toast, followed by the commencement of face-stuffing, and recounting of stories of the past few months. For Benedick and Beatrice, its the adventures of getting an apartment (noisy neighbors, leaky dishwasher, that one time Benedick found a bat in the laundry room and hid in their bedroom as Beatrice got rid of it.) For Pedro and Balthazar, it's the commute to Balthazar's gigs, and Pedro comes to every one, despite going to a different school. Once everyone who loves the sound of their own voice is done talking, they wanna hear from the quiet ones.

So John and Hero talk of their adventures, finishing each other's sentences for the stories they lived together. Like when Hero set off the dorm fire alarm by accident ("How was I supposed to know the popcorn would burn?!") and gazing at the stars on blankets, surrounded by slightly tipsy friends.

Then John mentions the art gallery.

"Oh, yes! So the school was holding a gallery for some of the work made by students in the first quarter, and John had a piece in it, so of course I had to go. And it was beautiful, really-" **"it wasn't-"** "Don't sell yourself short! So, John didn't tell me beforehand, but it was-" John covers his face with his hand. "it was of me. And so, yeah, we've been dating ever since."

Hero leans over and kisses John's cheek while everyone else at the table has a collective moment of shock.

"Told you," Balthazar mutters to Pedro with a smirk.

The Moms and Dad break the silence next, joking about how the Donaldson-Duke bloodlines have finally converged, and soon enough, everyone's laughing.

Later, Beatrice will pull Hero aside to say how _dare_ she not tell her sooner, (shortly after threatening John: "if you break her heart, I'll break your face,") but right now, Hero is happy.

 **5.** (John in **bold** , Hero in regular)

**"Is the camera on?"**

"Yeah." She laughs. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

**"Why?"**

"I said I'd never do this again!"

**"Yeah, but to be fair, so did Beatrice, and she's in 90% of Ben's videos."**

"True."

-jump cut-

"Hey guys, it's Hero!"

**"And John!"**

"Long time no see!" She can't stop laughing. It's so weird to be in front of a camera again, about to bear her soul.

**"So, we originally weren't gonna do this, but Ursula posted a video on her channel-"**

"Which was a total invasion of privacy, not cool, Ursula!"

**"Ben also talked about it on his channel too, though."**

"So we figured we'd clear the air."

A pause.

**"So, um..."**

"John and I are dating."

**"As you've already heard from Ben and..."**

"Ursula's sneaking camera at the party.."

They laugh together, her head falling against his chest.

"So yeah, me and John went to the same uni, and things just fell into place, yeah?"

**"Yeah, pretty much."**

They're looking into each other's eyes, all cute and lovey-dovey.

"So that's it, audience!" Hero says, "That's the brand new scoop." He looks at her like she's the world.

They kiss.

They kiss again.

He turns the camera off.


End file.
